Diverse biological effects of glycosyltransferase genes from Tartary buckwheat

Background: Tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) is an edible cereal crop whose sprouts have been marketed and commercialized for their higher levels of anti-oxidants, including rutin and anthocyanin. UDP-glucose flavonoid glycosyltransferases (UFGTs) play an important role in the biosynthesis of flavonoids in plants. So far, few studies are available on UFGT genes that may play a role in tartary buckwheat flavonoids biosynthesis. Here, we report on the identification and functional characterization of seven UFGTs from tartary buckwheat that are potentially involved in flavonoid biosynthesis (and have varying effects on plant growth and development when overexpressed in Arabidopsis thaliana.) Results: Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the potential function of the seven FtUFGT proteins, FtUFGT6, FtUFGT7, FtUFGT8, FtUFGT9, FtUFGT15, FtUFGT40, and FtUFGT41, could be divided into three Arabidopsis thaliana functional subgroups that are involved in flavonoid biosynthesis of and anthocyanin accumulation. A significant positive correlation between FtUFGT8 and FtUFGT15 expression and anthocyanin accumulation capacity was observed in the tartary buckwheat seedlings after cold stress. Overexpression in Arabidopsis thaliana showed that FtUFGT8, FtUFGT15, and FtUFGT41 significantly increased the anthocyanin content in transgenic plants. Unexpectedly, overexpression of FtUFGT6, while not leading to enhanced anthocyanin accumulation, significantly enhanced the growth yield of transgenic plants. When wild-type plants have only cotyledons, most of the transgenic plants of FtUFGT6 had grown true leaves. Moreover, the growth speed of the oxFtUFGT6 transgenic plant root was also significantly faster than that of the wild type. At later growth, FtUFGT6 transgenic plants showed larger leaves, earlier twitching times and more tillers than wild type, whereas FtUFGT15 showed opposite results. Conclusions: Seven FtUFGTs were isolated from tartary buckwheat. FtUFGT8, FtUFGT15, and FtUFGT41 can significantly increase the accumulation of total anthocyanins in transgenic plants. Furthermore, overexpression of FtUFGT6 increased the overall yield of Arabidopsis transgenic plants at all growth stages. However, FtUFGT15 shows the opposite trend at later growth stage and delays the growth speed of plants. These results suggested that the biological function of FtUFGT genes in tartary buckwheat is diverse

Rashba-splitting-induced topological flat band detected by anomalous resistance oscillations beyond the quantum limit in ZrTe5_5

Topological flat band, on which the kinetic energy of topological electrons is quenched, represents a platform for investigating the topological properties of correlated systems. Recent experimental studies on flattened electronic bands have mainly concentrated on 2-dimensional materials created by van der Waals heterostructure-based engineering. Here, we report the observation of a topological flat band formed by polar-distortion-assisted Rashba splitting in a 3-dimensional Dirac material ZrTe$_5$. The polar distortion and resulting Rashba splitting on the band are directly detected by torque magnetometry and the anomalous Hall effect, respectively. The local symmetry breaking further flattens the band, on which we observe resistance oscillations beyond the quantum limit. These oscillations follow the temperature dependence of the Lifshitz-Kosevich formula but are evenly distributed in B instead of 1/B in high magnetic fields. Furthermore, the cyclotron mass anomalously gets enhanced about 10$^2$ times at field ~20 T. These anomalous properties of oscillations originate from a topological flat band with quenched kinetic energy. The topological flat band, realized by polar-distortion-assisted Rashba splitting in the 3-dimensional Dirac system ZrTe$_5$, signifies an intrinsic platform without invoking moir\'e or order-stacking engineering, and also opens the door for studying topologically correlated phenomena beyond the dimensionality of two.Comment: 32 pages, 11 figures; Version of original submissio

Research Advances on Organic Acid Degradation Process and Its Effects on Flavor of Fermented Alcohol Beverage

Moderate organic acids can make fermented alcohol beverage produce comfortable flavor and delicate taste, but during the fermentation process, the content of organic acids in fermented alcohol beverage is unstable. Too high can easily result in astringent and bitter taste and poor flavor, while too low can make the wine bland and tasteless. The type of organic acid also has important influence on the flavor of fermented alcohol beverage. Some methods of acid degradation are frequently used to accurately reduce the level of the primary organic acids in fermented alcohol beverage in order to improve its flavor and quality. This helps to better maintain the volatile flavor components in fermented alcohol beverage and control its flavor. In order to provide a theoretical foundation for improving the quality of fermented alcohol beverage and optimizing the brew processing, and promoting the large-scale sustainable development of fermented alcohol beverage industry, this paper describes the main acid degradation processes and their principles in fermented alcohol beverage, analyzes the benefits, drawbacks, and limitation of various processes, discusses the effects of acid degradation processes on the types of flavor substances in fermented alcohol beverage, and offers an outlook on future research for flavor regulation of fermented alcohol beverage

Facilitating Image Search with a Scalable and Compact Semantic Mapping

Formerly IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part B: Cybernetics</p

Dregs of Cardamine hupingshanensis as a feed additive to improve the egg quality

Natural plant herbs have many active compounds to prevent poultry diseases and improve poultry products. However, most herbs are supplied for human medicine. Thus, for economic and sustainable development purposes, the dregs of Cardamine hupingshanensis (DCH) were developed as a feed additive to improve the egg quality of laying hens in this work. Results showed that the contents of selenium in hen serum and eggs were increased under DCH feeding. Subsequently, DCH also promotes the antioxidant capacity and immunity of laying hens through the increase of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and immunoglobulin G (IgG) by ELISA detection. Finally, production performance and egg quality were further graded by monitoring the product condition and scoring the indexes of egg quality, which also displayed that DCH as a feed additive significantly improved the egg quality by enhancing yolk color, eggshell thickness, and egg shape index

The Study of Transport Category Aircraft Fire Safety Airworthiness Design

AbstractThis paper discussed the classification of aircraft zones related to fire based on the existence and characteristics of aircraft flammable fluids and ignition sources as well as fire safety provisions in order to establish the aircraft level safety requirements. Then, the aircraft fire safety airworthiness design process has been presented to allocate the aircraft level safety requirements in terms of zones. And the aircraft manufacturers can use this process as a guidance to perform their fire safety design and demonstrate the compliance of aircraft fire safety

Simulation calculation of 3D electric field and natural flashover analysis of ice‐covered silicone rubber insulator

Abstract The effects of uneven icing, number of icicles, inclination angle of icicle, ice pallets and arc ignition on the electric field are ignored for the two‐dimensional axisymmetric model of ice‐covered insulator. Therefore, a 3D simulation model was developed in this paper. The average electric field strength of air gap (Eav) and maximum field strength of icicle tip (Emax) were determined to characterize the influence of various factors on the electric field distortion degree. The results show that compared with the insulator without ice and with a dry ice, the supply voltage is almost entirely applied to all icicle air gaps for a wet ice‐covered insulator. Eav is independent of icicle diameter and icicle number but increases with the increment of icicle length and icicle inclination angle. Emax raises with the increase of icicle length, icicle number, icicle inclination angle and icicle diameter. As the source of electric field distortion, the ice pallets on the surface of the sheds rise the field strength of air gap. Based on the simulation analysis and natural icing test, the applied voltage is redistributed in the remaining air gaps when an arc occurs in the gap near the high‐voltage terminal, thereby causing the subsequent flashover

Fast insulation recovery characteristics of induced trigger gas gap switch

Gas gap switch has good application prospects in power systems, due to its quick response and simple structure. However, there is still little research on insulation recovery characteristic. Therefore, the double pulse method is used to study the influence of switch gap distance, trigger medium pressure and trigger medium type on the insulation recovery characteristics of gas switch. The experimental results show that the insulation recovery characteristics of induced trigger gas gap switch experience three stages: transition period, fast recovery period and saturation period. The duration of the saturation period is much longer than the sum of the previous two stages, and there was no 'platform phenomenon' in the rapid recovery period. With the decrease of gap distance, the insulation recovery rate of gas switch increases gradually, and the basic recovery time of gap insulation (insulation recovery coefficient RU > 90%) can be reduced by 50%. The influence of trigger medium pressure on the insulation recovery of gas switch is significant, and the influence characteristics on the insulation recovery process are different. Increasing the trigger medium pressure will slow down the insulation recovery process of gas switch. In 0.1~0.3 MPa compressed dry air, the basic recovery time of gas gap switch insulation corresponds to 11~40 ms. The strong electronegative gas SF6 has a significant effect on the insulation recovery rate of gas switches, and its insulation recovery rate is close to 4 times that in air. The research results provide theoretical guidance for the rapid insulation recovery of gas gap switch